THE grieving mother of a Midland soldier killed in Iraq claims that his life could have been saved if he had been in an armoured vehicle instead of a Land Rover.

THE grieving mother of a Midland soldier killed in Iraq claims that his life could have been saved if he had been in an armoured vehicle instead of a Land Rover.

Private Phillip Hewett, from Tamworth, was one of three soldiers from the Staffordshire Regiment blown up in a roadside bomb attack last month.

His mother, Sue Smith, is reported to have been told that the troops were travelling in a Land Rover rather than a heavily armoured Warrior fighting vehicle to avoid disturbing sleeping Iraqi civilians at night.